For many college students the term ‘late night’ refers to evening cravings of fast-food delicacies after a long night of studying, hanging out with friends or attending a fraternity formal. Thanks to the invention of 24-hour drive-thrus, students can satisfy their cravings at any time.
“I love late-night food,” sophomore Jeff Ordner said. “I’m an expert. I never have time to eat much during the day, so late-night food is more feasible for me.”
While fast food may be convenient, it has its costs. Students like Ordner tend not to take nutritional value into account when buying that Big Mac.
Many people don’t know trans fats are a staple in consumer products. This chemically modified ingredient has many harmful effects. In reaction to recent Food and Drug Administration regulations, SMU is striving to meet the standards of recent national efforts to abolish trans fats.
The trans fat ban current among major cities in the United States is more than a dietary trend; rather, it’s a lifestyle alteration to better the health of American citizens. Avoiding certain products containing this toxic ingredient can reduce body fat and improve overall health.
According to U.S. Nutritionists at the Harvard School of Public Health, “Trans fats are the cause of large numbers of deaths and disabilities each year.” Trans fats are unhealthy additives that have been recorded to cause diseases such as heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
SMU Dining Services has already reacted to the questions and controversy caused by the recent trans fat debates. University Dining Services dietitian Sue Duncan says that SMU is heading in the direction of banning trans fats.
“We now fry our food in trans fat-free oil and we have also switched to butter because our margarine contained trans fats,” Duncan said.
The university cafeteria expects to be trans fat-free by the end of this semester. Duncan admitted that abolishing trans fats in the cafeteria may be expensive, but the costs are nothing compared to the detrimental effects on students’ health.
Aramark, the Philadelphia-based food company that serves nearly 400 college campus cafeterias nationwide including SMU, has stated that in response to recent research on trans fat that it is eliminating all trans fat from the oils and margarines used in their cooking.
Eliminating trans fats from student dining services may be a step in the right direction, but students will still want foods that are cheap, easy to come by and long-lasting.
“There is a huge difference between how I eat at college compared to the way I eat at home,” sophomore Jamie McKinnon said. “I always have fresh, home-cooked meals when I’m with my parents and here I’m so busy that I only think of the quickest and easiest food to pick up or make at home.”
According to an informal college survey, a high percentage of SMU students admitted to consuming packaged or fast foods at least once a day, all of which contained trans fats.
Avoiding these foods may actually help students perform better in school. Natural Health and Fitness advocate Mike Adams, author of the documentary “Poison in the Food: Hydrogenated Oils,” says that “avoiding hydrogenated oils will dramatically improve brain function.”
According to the Food and Drug Administration, trans fatty acids are manufactured fats that are produced by adding a hydrogen to a vegetable oil through a method called hydrogenation. This process increases the shelf life of a product, flavor stability and appearance of foods.
Trans fat, like saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, raises levels of LDL, the “bad” cholesterol, that increases risk for coronary heart disease. Trans fat also depletes levels of good HDL cholesterol that helps protect against heart disease.
About 80 percent of trans fat in American diets comes from factory-produced partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. There are many on-campus dining options that are striving toward fitting the newest regulations and trends toward avoiding this harmful ingredient.
The Subway in Hughes-Trigg has established a nutrition guide expressing the importance of healthy, well-balanced meals. It also outlines nutritional values of each menu selection, announcing that a majority of choices contain 1.0 gram or less trans fat.
Likewise, Chick-fil-a makes customers aware that they cook their foods in 100-percent refined peanut oil that is not partially hydrogenated so that trans fats numbers are low.
The Market in Hughes-Trigg now offers healthier foods, selling a wider variety of health products and organic features. The store will still sell indulgent old favorite snacks, however, as long as national regulations on the products allow.
“I’ve seen a lot of change over the years in SMU’s dining facilities and food services,” senior Adam Rizzieri said. “It’s definitely making a positive impact on the student body.”
As of Jan. 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration required food companies to list trans fat content separately on the Nutrition Facts panel of all packaged foods. The Food and Drug Administration estimated between 2,000 and 5,600 lives would be saved annually from trans fat labeling alone.
On Dec. 5, 2006, the Board of Health approved an amendment to the Health Code to phase out artificial trans fat in all New York City restaurants and all other food service establishments.
Since the turn of the century, there has been a steep rise in both obesity and an awareness of trans fats. The correlation is striking. Since research shows that trans fats are linked to the high percentage of obesity, the American Heart Association, along with the Food and Drug Administration, is enforcing the elimination of trans fats from the American diet.
Trans fats were first widely used about 20 years ago to prolong the shelf-life of items such as cookies, crackers, potato chips, icing, margarine and microwave popcorn. Today, trans fats exist everywhere and health experts have begun to warn the public that these fats clog arteries and cause obesity.
Certain foods, such as meat and dairy, have naturally occurring traces of trans fats that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, are okay for intake. But in products where trans fats have been added, such as processed, baked or fried foods, trans fat intake should be limited.
The American Heart Association recommends daily intake of trans fats be limited to 1 percent of total calories, which is equivalent to roughly 2 to 2.5 grams of trans fat per day.
The average American in 2003 consumed approximately 5.8 grams of trans fats daily.
